1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of enabling a wireless information device to automatically modify its behaviour. The term ‘wireless information device’ used in this patent specification should be expansively construed to cover any kind of device with one or two way wireless communication capabilities and includes without limitation radio telephones, smart phones, communicators, personal computers, computers and wireless enabled application specific devices such as cameras, video recorders, asset tracking systems etc. It includes devices able to communicate in any manner over any kind of network, such as GSM or UMTS, CDMA and WCDMA mobile radio, Bluetooth, IrDA etc.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Enabling devices to automatically alter their behaviour depending on the environment or ‘context’ of the device is a compelling foundation of ‘context aware’ computing. ‘Context’ can cover device specific variables such as location, as well as end-user variables such as presence (i.e. the availability of an end-user to use the device, his mood etc.). One common strand in context aware computing is the need for the device to itself become automatically aware of its context: for example, a location aware device I typically equipped with location finding equipment, such as GPS, or the ability to acquire location information from a nearby source.
Equipping a device with location awareness enables new capabilities: for example, the device could automatically turn itself off when in a location in which device operation is hazardous (in a hospital or aircraft, for example).
One of the assumptions behind context aware computing is that the context aware device automatically acquires its context understanding. The present invention does not however deal with devices that can automatically acquire context information; as such it departs from the general thrust of development in this area. Instead, it deals with the situation in which the end-user manually inputs context type information into the device.
Further, prior art context aware systems focus on location and presence information. The present invention does not, but instead deal specifically with time sensitive information.